The Starship Konoha
by Commander Zia
Summary: The Starship Konoha receives a distress signal from a nearby planet, and Captain Naruto gets to reacquaint himself with old friends. The introduction fic to the 'Starship Konoha' verse.


_**A/N:**__ Well, Chasing and I love Naruto, and we love Star Trek TOS. We also love to draw. So obviously it makes perfect sense that we'd begin drawing Naruto characters in Starfleet garb. Obviously. I apologize that Chouji was never mentioned- I promise, he exists. One can only fit so many character intros into 2k D: So here it is, the intro to The Starship Konoha._

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**The Starship Konoha**

* * *

"Captain!"

The doors of the lift were still sliding open as the brunette called out to the man, but he immediately tensed, and began out onto the bridge.

"What is it?" Naruto sat down and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. Tenten didn't turn from her control panels to face her captain but didn't waste a moment answering his question.

"A distress signal from a nearby planet. It's a friendly one as well; a Starfleet ship."

"Can you tell what ship it is?" A troubled look crossed the blonde's normally cheery face at the thought of an ally, and possibly friend, in danger. But he was like that, overprotective. It was one of the things that made him such a fantastic leader.

"Not yet." Naruto's first officer threw in from over to his right, by all the scanners and memory banks. He stood as stared at whatever was on the screen before him, squinting at the fuzzy image of what appeared to be a planet they'd passed twenty or so minutes back. "I didn't think there was any ship behind us though. They must have already been on the planet. The scanners didn't register any human life forms…"

"If they crashed, they may have only just recovered enough materials to send out a signal at all. And from so far away it is easy to miss a small crew on such a barren planet."

"And god has spoken." Shikamaru made a face before switching off the screen, sitting down, and leaning far back in his chair. Sasuke sent a glare his way for half a moment, before turning back to his captain, and resting his hand absently on his phaser.

"Kakashi said you called for me?" The security officer asked, tucking stray bits of his black hair behind his pointed ears. Romulan ears, of course. Neji would never hear of such an 'illogical' being belonging to his species. Well, half of his species.

"Just a hunch." Naruto finally cracked a smile. "And it looks like I was right. Tenten, Neji, take us back to that planet. Shika, Sasuke, come with me. We'll need to prepare a landing party."

"Aye aye captain." Tenten said carelessly, reaching right and over Neji's arm to flick a couple switches.

"Tenten." Neji complained in that deadpan Vulcan way, backing away from her touch.

"Oh, you'll get over it."

"Sure thing." Shikamaru stood, stretching so his blue shirt sleeves tickled his elbows, before following the other two into the lift. The doors slid shut with that characteristic noise, and then the floor started to drop slowly under them. Not that they could feel it. Shino and his boys in engineering wouldn't dream of letting their ship be anything less than perfect.

"How many will you be needing captain?" Sasuke started right in as he always did, and the familiarity struck a chord with the captain, his scarred cheeks pinching in a smile.

"Not many. Me, you, Shika, Sakura in case there were any injuries, probably some more security…" Naruto drifted off, and after a moment of silence he nodded. "That should be all. No need to drag out more men than necessary."

"It could be a trap." Shikamaru added thoughtfully, as he always did.

"Nonsense." Naruto waved his hand dismissively.

Sasuke looked as though he was considering joining in the protest, but then he closed his mouth, and Shikamaru didn't blame him. One did not win arguments against the captain. It was a fact.

The doors opened then, and as they reached a familiar doorway the panel door slid away, and Naruto peaked in with a smile. "Oi, Sakura."

The doctor looked up from her clipboard suddenly, her short hair flicking in her eyes as she turned to face them. "Did you manage to get a paper cut on your shirt again?"

"I- no!" Naruto protested, and both Sasuke and Shikamaru snickered.

"I'll meet you guys at the transporter, then. Don't take too long." Shikamaru walked away, leaving the three childhood friends alone together. Well, sort of.

"Hey, Sakura, who-" Ino blinked as she caught sight of her captain and Sasuke standing in the doorway of the sick bay. "What're you doing down here?"

"What are _you_ doing down here?" Sasuke countered. "Shouldn't you be up on the bridge? Or have you been gossiping with the medical staff again?"

The communications officer made a face before skirting around the man, red fabric sliding against red, and with a final parting gesture, walking away.

"Do that again and I'll cut your finger off." Sasuke threatened with a scowl.

"C-captain!"

"Hinata." Naruto smiled blindingly as the meek woman appeared behind her fierce superior, blushing a mossy green. Oblivious to the nurse's undying love or not Naruto had long taken a liking Hinata, feeling responsible for her after learning of the way she'd literally been abandoned by her family to Starfleet. They had no use for a Vulcan who was more human than most humans were. It didn't help matters that her younger sister was the epitome of perfection, already in line for inheriting one of the oldest and most respected Vulcan family lines. "How are you? You got hit really hard last week."

Hinata rubbed the bandages around her neck lightly, and although her shoulders tightened she managed a small smile. "Fine j- just fine. Good."

Sakura sent her assistant a smile, before reaching to her desk and grabbing her black leather kit. "I assume you're dragging me off on some ridiculous escapade?"

"Something like that." Sasuke smirked.

"Alright Naruto, lead the way."

It didn't take them long to reach their next stop, the security hang out. Of course, it had some technical term no one could remember, but as it was where all security officers hung out in their spare time, that was its official name as far as anyone was concerned.

"Sasuke!"

Probably the one place on the ship where a security officer would be noticed before the captain himself, it wasn't much surprise that Sasuke was greeted by the brunette first. It only took a moment, however, for him to notice Naruto and give a quick salute. "You need anything captain?"

"What do you think?" Kakashi asked sarcastically from the back corner of the room, playing with his phaser as he used his feet, the wall, and the table before him to balance his chair on its two back legs. He wore black gloves on his hands, no one had ever seen him without them, some kind of comfort thing, and his silver hair hung around his tired face lightly, fluffed to one side and sticking out at odd angles. He was an eccentric chief of security no doubt, but everyone respected him.

"Shut up old geezer." Kiba turned back to the captain before repeating his question. "You need something?"

"Just you and Lee."

"Someone call?" The exuberant officer appeared suddenly, as he always seemed to, with a large smile on his face. "Ah! Sakura!"

"Yes, me." Sakura said, tired sounding all of a sudden, with a weak smile. It was no secret the man had spent the last two years tirelessly seeking her affection, nor was it hidden that she saw him 'only as a friend'. But some guys just couldn't take a hint.

"Alright then!" Naruto pumped his fist before starting off down the hall.

"See ya old man." Sasuke waved to Kakashi, and the man sent a lazy salute back.

"Don't die."

"Thanks for the concern!" Kiba shouted back dryly.

Well, a normal start to a normal day, at any rate.

* * *

"You sure this is the right way?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"You _really_ sure-"

"Would you like to read this scanner, then, since you are such an expert?"

That shut Kiba up. Sweet? Sure. A great warrior and a loyal friend? Absolutely. But smart?

"I must agree." Sasuke commented from Shikamaru's other side. "You're the expert, but the signs of the ship are coming from that way." The Romulan then proceeded to point his thumb over his shoulder.

"Yes but life signs are this way. As I'm assuming we're looking for the crew and not the ship…"

"Stop bickering." Naruto said carefully, and everyone proceeded to stop, as he was using his 'worried captain' voice, the one he used whenever friends were in danger. It hadn't helped that they'd identified the distress signal as one from the starship Suna, which was led and run, for the most part, by good friends Naruto had made back in the academy, three siblings who'd managed to make it onto a starship before even he.

"They'll be fine." Sakura reassured comfortingly.

Naruto nodded. "They will. They're all too stupid to die, anyways."

"I resent that."

Naruto's eyes widened, and his mouth flew wide into a grin as he glanced up to see the man standing ten feet above them, on one of the smaller rock formations littering the planet.

"Kankurou!"

"That is my name." The red-clad man jumped down carefully before them, and although he seemed mostly in one piece as he stood one of his sleeves was ripped, blood crusting a long gash up his forearm.

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked as Sakura rushed forward and coaxed the brunette into pulling back his sleeve and letting her at the wound.

"Some creepy alien thing hitched a ride, decided to chew up some of our main wiring. It'll take days to repair the damage. We had to make an emergency landing. Gaara managed to hunt the thing down, which is good, but it seems like it may have been set on us on purpose, so now we're going to have to go and look into conspiracy and all that." Kankurou shrugged, and he hissed as Sakura rubbed something translucent and yellow over his cut. "Ow!"

"How'd _this_ happen?" She narrowed her green eyes in that doctor glare.

"As we were coming down some of the paneling shook loose." Kankurou rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly with his free hand. "We were going to fix it up as soon as we got to a port, we've been on the go a while now."

"What a way to finally touch down again." Kiba observed. Kankurou laughed.

"So anyways," As Sakura finally let loose her iron grip Kankurou started the way they'd been heading, "We all hiked out this way, figured the ship might blow, we had a rough landing. Looks like it's doing fine though. That's good. If I'd lost her…" Kankurou's eyes narrowed a fraction, and they found themselves remembering Shino's nigh rabid devotion to their ship, and felt a little sympathy.

They walked for a good ten minutes, listening to odd stories and outbursts by Kankurou and Lee, who seemed to be getting along famously, before they reached what appeared to be almost the whole crew. The Suna was a significantly smaller ship than the Konoha, only one hundred men or so, and was for the most part a military ship, as opposed to the Konoha's way favoring diplomacy and research. In a way, they complimented each other perfectly.

"Hey, sis! Look who I found!"

The blonde turned at Kankurou's call, and she smiled at the sight of the whiskered captain. "Naruto! Long time no see!"

"Hey Temari!" Naruto ran forward to meet her and the silent redhead following after her, but the rest of the landing party stayed back, as did the crew of the Suna.

"He's such a social butterfly." Sakura marveled, shaking her head.

"Indeed, Sakura, he is most youthful." Lee nodded.

"I'd prefer the term 'moron' or 'airhead'." Sasuke said carefully, as though actually taking the time to ponder his word choice. "Or 'oblivious'."

Kiba just shrugged. Naruto was a complicated guy.

* * *

And so ended just one of the many adventures of the starship Konoha. Of course, not all are as simple, or as tame, or as unhazardous.

But that is for another time.

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End file.
